abortion referendum

Simon Harris: It would be 'desirable' to use Oireachtas abortion committee's findings for referendum

Monday, December 11, 2017
By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

Health Minister Simon Harris has backed calls for the Oireachtas abortion committee's findings to be used as the template for next year's eighth amendment referendum despite claims substantial changes could be made before a vote.

Mr Harris said such a move would be "desirable" and "obviously makes sense", despite noting this is "just my gut answer" and that he will need to wait until the exact recommendations are agreed over the coming days.

Large majority favours changing Constitution on abortion
Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI Poll finds support for repeal consistent among supporters of all parties

Sat, Dec 9, 2017
Pat Leahy, Sarah Bardon

A large majority of voters favours changing the Constitution to provide for greater access to abortion, the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll finds.

Asked about the prospect of the referendum on the Eighth Amendment next year, 62 per cent said they would vote in favour of changing the Constitution to allow the Oireachtas to legislate for greater access to abortion, the poll finds.

Wavering pro-life TDs hold balance in vote to allow free abortion for all

Ellen Coyne, Senior Ireland Reporter
December 2 2017

Politicians could decide that abortion should be completely decriminalised in Ireland in a vote this month.

The move would mean that an unapproved abortion would no longer be a criminal offence and that the procedure would be covered by the same regulations as other medical procedures. It is understood that there is growing support for decriminalisaiton among Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

At least two TDs who described themselves as “pro-life” have now decided to fully support decriminalisation and free access to the procedure.

In this week’s edition of the Academic Armchair we talked with Ben Kasstan, Research Fellow in Social Anthropology at Sussex, about a recent article written for Huffington Post, as well as a follow-up blog post for Sussex’s Centre for Cultures of Reproduction, Technologies & Health. Presenting his opinions on the importance of the upcoming 2018 vote over women’s reproductive rights and the protesters on both sides of the issue, Ben explores the context and potential outcomes of the referendum in his article. We talked with him to see why Sussex students should care as much about the issue as he does…

Ben mentions in his article that young voters made up the majority of pro-life and pro-choice demonstrators he saw while in Ireland.

We kicked off our interview by asking him why he feels young people are so active regarding this issue on both sides, and what this might mean.

Abortion referendum set for delay if election held before Christmas
Social-welfare increases and public-service pension restoration also hit

Fri, Nov 24, 2017
Marie O'Halloran

The abortion referendum is likely to be delayed if a general election is triggered by next week’s no-confidence motions in the Dáil. The work of the Oireachtas group dealing with abortion, the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, will also fall once an election is triggered.

Social-welfare increases and the restoration of public-service pension payments are set to be delayed as well. But the cuts in the universal social charge, the sugar tax on sweetened drinks, and all the measures in the Finance Bill will go ahead, as the Bill has completed its passage through the Dáil. The Seanad remains in place after the Dáil is dissolved and can deal with the Bill’s measures.

No ‘test’ for rape victims under new abortion law
Ellen Coyne, Senior Ireland Reporter

November 20 2017

Rape victims would be able to access abortions through a “health-led” rather than a criminal justice process if the Eighth Amendment were repealed.

Legislation being drafted by the Department of Health and the office of the attorney-general would not require women to prove that a crime had taken place before she could access a termination. The Times understands that abortions in cases of sexual crime would be a matter for “the woman and her doctor”, and there would be no obligation on the woman to report the crime to the authorities afterwards.